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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Trial Techniques - Over-highlighting and Washes (The Ian Files)

Ian was a local part of our gaming group, a friend, and someone I wish I got to know better. You can read about him here if you haven't before. (Ian Tribute). He was a great painter, great with mods, and he did a ton of workshop's and helped others out locally, as well as commission work. Although he isn't with us anymore his spirit lives on. He posted a handful of great helpful articles online that I will repost with permission here over the next few weeks to share with the community in hopes it inspires and help out which is what he was shooting for. So without further intro from me I present the Ian Files. (Tips technically from the beyond)

Ian File # 5Trial Techniques - Over-highlighting and Washes

So this is a technique I've heard about but never really tried before. The basic theory is that you highlight the model more than you would normally, then use a wash or glaze to tint the model back down to the desired tone. Normally I do my reds by basing with Mechrite Red, washing with Baal Red or Badab Black, then highlighting with Carmine Red, Blood Red, and finally with small accents of 2:1 Blood Red + Bleached Bone. Instead, this time I based with Mechrite, washed with Baal Red, then did a heavy drybrush with the standard Carmine/Blood/Blood+Bone mix, then took it to a 1:1 and finally a 1:2 mix of Blood+Bone. The models almost appeared pink when I was done! But after two washes of Baal Red, the tone of the model was once again that rich, squiggly red I was after. An added bonus was that the two washes of Baal Red smoothed the whole model out and eliminated that telltale dusty appearance of drybrushing.

This isn't the most refined technique, and it won't look as good as careful blending. But it's quite useful for completing mass quantities of models in a short amount of time.

About Me

You may know Drkmorals from such sites as MWC, FTW, STC, and now 40k Global. His personal site is Emperor's Codex. All these places he randomly spills 40k nonsense and tries to impact the community in a positive manner.